EVANSVILLE, Ind. – In a game that was minutes away from ending in a scoreless tie, the Missouri State men’s soccer team (8-3-2, 3-0 MVC) found a way to earn a tough road victory at Evansville (8-4-1, 1-2 MVC).

With the second overtime period ticking away, it looked like the Bears would come away from Missouri Valley Conference opponent Evansville with a tie, and earn a single point.

That all changed in the 108th minute, in the second overtime period. Despite being outshot 19-12 in the match, it was Missouri State’s final shot that was the difference maker.

“They had a potent attack all game and this was a tough one,” said head coach Jon Leamy. “Jack Griffin had a laser of a shot and it was huge.”

Jack Griffin, the freshman midfielder out of Beverley, England, struck a ball from about 20 yards out into the far post to end the overtime period and grant Missouri State the victory. Griffin’s first collegiate points and goal were assisted by junior forward Jack Wood, who tallied his team-high third assist of the year.

“It shows how resilient we are, winning is a habit,” said Griffin after the game. “It starts on the training grounds. The great thing about this team is that there is no individual that feels bigger than the team and we all have that ‘team first’ mindset.”

Both teams had legitimate scoring opportunities throughout the game, but were unable to capitalize until Griffin’s game winner.

Missouri State may have had the best opportunity of regulation to put the game away when a trio of Bears had shots on goal in a fifteen second window. In the 74th minute, Emmerich Hoegg received a ball that he was able to convert to a one-on-one with the goalkeeper Eric Teppen. Hoegg’s shot, caught a piece of Teppen’s body and was deflected out to Phil Woods. With defenders swarming, Woods needed to quickly get his shot off. If hit off the cross bar and bounced over to Jack Roberts who took a quick shot which was blocked and eventually cleared.

The Bears defense was stellar tonight. Missouri State prevented six Evansville corner kicks from finding the back of the net, preserving the shutout. The fifth consecutive shutout ties the program record which was set in 2005 and in 2012.

Goalkeeper Trevor Spangenberg came up big again as well. In the 53rd minute Spangenberg made a huge save and came off his line to meet the Evansville forward Dylan Terry and force the ball out of bounds. Spangenberg lowered his conference best goals against average to 0.43 and raised his save percentage to 0.824, after tying his career high with seven saves.

The Bears return to plaster field on Wednesday night to host conference opponent Central Arkansas. Kickoff is scheduled for 7:00 p.m.